The February Century.

The midwinter Century is an unusually interesting number. A point of special interest to us is the fact that two of the articles are written by two of our University Preachers, "The Voice of Tennyson" by Henry Van Dyke and the second chapter of the "Cosmopolis City Club" by Washington Gladden. "The Voice of Tennyson" is one of the best articles in the number. It is written "to record a memory" not to enter into any trivial gossip over Tennyson's life and works. Mr. Van Dyke describes the poet as he reads "Maud" and shows us how singularly beautiful and strange this reading was. He says, "It was not melodious or flexible, it was something better. It was musical, as the voice of the ocean, or as the sound of the wind in the pine-trees, is musical. There is given a short criticism of Tennyson's work. There are three points on which the poet's message to men is clearest, the relation of man to woman, the relation of man to his country, and the relation of man to humanity. The author makes these points very clear and leaves us with the impression that Tennyson's poetry is a beautiful expression of a deep and noble character. "The Cosmopolis City Club," begun in the January Century, is an account of the organization of the best men of a large town for the purification of city politics. The subject is interesting and the article is full of good suggestions.

The number is unusually rich in fiction. Besides good installments of "Sweet Bells Out of Tune" and "Benefits Forgot" there are three or four interesting short stories, The Balcony Stories" the best of which is "The Miracle Chapel," "The Professor's Aberration" and others. A very interesting article is "Stray Leaves from a Whaleman's Log"; it is a collection of whaling stories with a description of the general methods of whaling. An article worthy of the attention of everyone is "A Voice of Russia" by Pierre Botkine, the secretary of the Russian Legation at Washington. In a few words Mr. Botkine shows how foolish and groundless the inimical feeling towards Russia, so common here, is. He explains that, as nations, Russia and the United States always have been and always should be on the best of terms. He then points out some of the erroneous impressions of the Russian government that are largely due to Mr. Kennan's writings. The poetry of the number is not remarkable with the exception of the verses "On a Head of Christ by Quintin Matsys" by Bessie Chandler. The illustrations of the number are unusually good, most noteworthy being a picture of Lord Tennyson, a portrait of Franz Liszt after Munkacsy's painting, and "Purity" from the painting by William Thorne.